bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
There was some interest a few months ago (or longer?) about making an historical beverage called blaand. Blaand was originally made in the highlands and islands of Scotland using the whey leftover from making butter. The whey was stored in wooden kegs and the kegs very likely were impregnated with a variety of Brett (I suspect Claussenii) that could ferment lactose. Blaand was the very first taste a newborn would have upon entering the world and was the very last drink someone would have upon leaving this world.
To make this version of blaand, I boiled the whey I obtained from making some squeaky curd cheese. To culture that gallon of milk I added about a half cup of kefir I had cultured and so I had to boil the whey to kill the bacteria (if you use lemon juice or another acid to clabber milk then there will be no acid forming bacteria in the whey to compete for the lactose, so no need to boil the whey). The gravity of the whey was 1.024. Now, wine yeast cannot ferment lactose, so I added about 4 crushed lactaid tablets. These tabs contain enzymes to break down lactose into simpler sugars that yeast CAN eat. I crushed and added 1 multi-vitamin tablet because I do not know whether whey contains the key minerals and compounds that yeast require, but I do know that the minerals and vitamins in multi-vitamins are precisely the same elements that White and Zainasheff discuss in their book, Yeast. And for this batch I pitched a "starter" I had made from about 2 tablespoons of preservative-free raisins a week or two before. I checked the gravity today and it is just about 1.000 (8 days) and the blaand tastes deliciously "bright" (nicely acidic) and quite drinkable. As a drink it does not taste like wine or beer or cider but you could drink this after a hard day's physical work in the summer. It's low alcohol - about 3% AND for cheese makers and for anyone who has more whey than they know what to do with...blaand may be something to try. Eight days...
To make this version of blaand, I boiled the whey I obtained from making some squeaky curd cheese. To culture that gallon of milk I added about a half cup of kefir I had cultured and so I had to boil the whey to kill the bacteria (if you use lemon juice or another acid to clabber milk then there will be no acid forming bacteria in the whey to compete for the lactose, so no need to boil the whey). The gravity of the whey was 1.024. Now, wine yeast cannot ferment lactose, so I added about 4 crushed lactaid tablets. These tabs contain enzymes to break down lactose into simpler sugars that yeast CAN eat. I crushed and added 1 multi-vitamin tablet because I do not know whether whey contains the key minerals and compounds that yeast require, but I do know that the minerals and vitamins in multi-vitamins are precisely the same elements that White and Zainasheff discuss in their book, Yeast. And for this batch I pitched a "starter" I had made from about 2 tablespoons of preservative-free raisins a week or two before. I checked the gravity today and it is just about 1.000 (8 days) and the blaand tastes deliciously "bright" (nicely acidic) and quite drinkable. As a drink it does not taste like wine or beer or cider but you could drink this after a hard day's physical work in the summer. It's low alcohol - about 3% AND for cheese makers and for anyone who has more whey than they know what to do with...blaand may be something to try. Eight days...
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